Liverpool FC Forum

by **azriahmad** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:36 am

I found this article on the Telegraph website today:

[/quote]
A Difficult Week Continues
By Alan Hansen (Filed: 24/05/2004)

The last week has been one of the most difficult in the history of my former club, Liverpool. We now appear to be approaching the end of Gerard Houllier's time in charge, the divisions over who should be allowed to invest in the club have still not been settled and the board seem to be under more pressure now than ever before.

Throughout the discussion of property developer Steve Morgan's proposal to back a share and rights issue package to raise money for the club, chairman David Moores has stayed silent. He has kept his counsel, too, in the wake of the reports that Houllier is about to leave the club. And yet now, more than ever, it is Moores who is bearing much of the criticism.

Let's pause for a moment to remember the qualities we value in a football club chairman. The two most important are surely a willingness to support a manager with the funds to buy the players he needs and, above all, patience. The strength to back your man in difficult times. In both those categories, Moores looks like the dream ticket.

When he leaves Anfield, Houllier will never be able to say that he has not had the support of the board until the very end. If Moores were to be accused of anything then some people might say he was too loyal to Houllier, but he can hardly be guilty of betrayal. He has sided with his manager, and made money available, long after many other chairmen would have backed off.

It has not just been Houllier whom Moores has backed. Since 1991 he has offered his full support to Graeme Souness and Roy Evans, too. None of the three has won a championship but none of them has been denied the money to spend on players. Moores may have finally decided it is time to change, but he has given his manager every chance to turn the side around.

In modern football, where we can normally trace the decline of a club back to bad decisions made in the boardroom, Moores has tried to run his club differently and has refused to pass the blame. He alone knows why he changed his mind but one of the turning points for me in Houllier's reign was the manager's admission in his last match programme notes that fourth place in the Premiership was a "magnificent achievement".

I accept that, in the circumstances, winning a place in the Champions League was very important. But you cannot use the word "magnificent" to describe a season in which Liverpool have finished fourth, in the context of the club's history. This club have won so much and expect a great deal more. It may have been 14 years since the last League title, but the expectations of the fans have not lowered a single notch.

They expect to be challenging for the Premiership title and progressing in the Champions League. They will also accept that success moves in cycles and that no club - as Arsenal and Manchester United will find out one day - can expect to win year after year. But that does not mean that the club should set their sights any lower and accept mediocrity - which is just how fourth place is considered at Anfield.

Yes, I know that it comes back to Liverpool's past. Back to the success of the teams of the late Seventies and Eighties. But that past will not go away and it cannot be forgotten. Many of the fans who watch the side now are the same fans who watched 15 or 20 years earlier. They have not forgotten what the club did and they are not going to be persuaded that fourth place is a "magnificent achievement".

The truth is that taking over at Liverpool now is the ideal job. There is a different atmosphere to when I played in the team, when the expectation at Anfield was always about success. If they won the title now the place would go ballistic and the truth is that the basics are in place. From England's five world-class players - Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney - Liverpool are the only side who have two.

On top of that there is a chairman who has a record for backing his managers with money. But most importantly the only way, in terms of winning league titles, is up. Who would want to follow Sir Alex Ferguson at United or Arsene Wenger at Arsenal? These are two men whose legacies will always rest heavy on their successors, but at Liverpool they are desperate for a saviour to deliver them success.

I hope that the board act quickly to appoint someone, and that they have a new manager in mind already. Gerrard has already hinted that he wants to see new players at the club to prove Liverpool's ambition and I have said before that the captain is one player they cannot afford to lose. Whoever takes over will need to build a team around a nucleus of talented young British players.

Bringing back the good old days to Liverpool is a tough task, but it is far from impossible. The supporters need reassurance that the club are still aiming to be the very best and that, even if the successes of the past are gone, there is still a will to bring them back.
[quote]

I always liked to read or listen to Alan Hansen's views as a football pundit on the BBC back in the early 90s when I was still a student in London. Now that I am in Malaysia, I don't know if he is still a pundit on tv.

However, his viewes are always professionally conveyed, never clouded by personal malice. Read and I would like to hear your views.

by **SantaGiveHoullierTheSack** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:56 am

fourth place is a "magnificent achievement"

This bloke thinks he is managing Everton. :laugh:

by **woof woof !** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:11 am

Santa, Hansen is still very much active as a BBC football pundit. This article is exactly in line with the thoughts of most fair minded fans.

by **azriahmad** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:24 am

Hansen got it right when he said that Houllier has had the unwavering support of the Chairman and the CEO during his tenure.

If Houllier were shown the door, he shouldn't complain much because he blew it after having so much support, financially and also non-financially. There is no one else to blame and citing the "injury problems" is a very poor excuse as the dire manner we have been playing especially at home would surely make any fan deeply unhappy.

I watch Liverpool's live matches everytime it is shown in Malaysia and I must say that one of the most frustrating things is seeing the way Liverpool play at home. You'd wonder who is the visiting team.

Houllier is a good administrator, one who you should rely on for developing the academies. As a manager who has to pick the talents to buy, choose the players, educate them tactically and motivate them, he has been a failure.

For your info, in Asia the matches are telecast live every match day and the commentary analysis in the studio is by one John Dykes, an Englishman, who normally has 2 guests from the football worls, be it ex-players or ex-managers. However, I do miss Alan Hansen's match analysis because he calls it straight. I remember him making a remark about Mark Wright playing for Liverpool in '92-'93 when he said, "this is not the kind of defending you would expect from a 2.5 million pound player like Mark Wright".

He doesn't say that so and so is cr@p, just points out how he sees things as a former pro player. Great fellow and one of our best defenders ever!

by **SantaGiveHoullierTheSack** » Mon May 24, 2004 8:02 am

woof woof ! wrote:Santa, Hansen is still very much active as a BBC football pundit. This article is exactly in line with the thoughts of most fair minded fans.

Woof, I agreed with Hansen (best pundit on TV in my book). Andy Gray can be bias towards Mancs and always talk ****** about LFC !
When Houllier said he thought getting 4th place is a "magnificent achievement", he must have thought he was managing the ole blue nose

by **Sean** » Mon May 24, 2004 9:31 am

Yep, Andy Gray talks rubbish. He is completely pro the scum...as are sky in general.

Seán

by **greenred** » Mon May 24, 2004 4:01 pm

Alan Hansens views are in line with all true Liverpool supporters.Like most of us he didnt swallow the GH bulls.hit.

by **Big Niall** » Mon May 24, 2004 5:23 pm

Hansen is usually spot on, although I never saw why he rated Heskey.

Liverpool FC Forum

Alan hansen's article in the telegraph - Interesting view

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